Fire in Houston Office Building Kills 3

Mar 29, 02:02 PM

Current Headlines: HOUSTON (AP) -- Fire broke out in a six-story office building Wednesday, killing three people and injuring at least six, while many others inside climbed down to safety on ladders, fire officials said.

The fire broke out at the end of the business day. Flames shot out of the building's top floors, and heavy smoke blanketed a nearby 10-lane freeway during the evening rush hour.

Television footage showed flames breaking through glass and fire personnel guiding people down ladders.

Firefighters found the three bodies on the building's fifth floor, District Fire Chief T.J. Dowdy said. Two bodies were found in the same office, and the other was nearby.

Three firefighters were injured, Dowdy said.

Four of the injured people were taken to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, where one was in critical condition.

The fire is believed to have started in the offices of a medical supply company on the fifth floor. The fire stayed on the fifth and sixth floors, Dowdy said.

Roy Anderson and Larry Gill, who work at Rail Crew Express on the sixth floor, said they were outside when they heard an explosion and then glass shattering.

They said they called authorities while a person driving by ran into the building and pulled the fire alarm. Before then, alarms hadn't sounded and the sprinklers hadn't gone off, they said.

Jim Jimenez, owner of J Systems on the fourth floor, said he was in the atrium when he smelled smoke and then saw the fire. He left and saw the fire raging as he looked back, Jimenez said.

"It looked like the entire suite was on fire. It just took seconds," he said.

The injured were believed to have suffered from smoke inhalation, Dowdy said.

An engineering firm and several medical clinics are listed as tenants.

Boxer Property Management Corp., which manages the building, declined to comment.

Built in the early 1980s, the masonry and glass building is about 58,000 square feet. It is on the 610 Loop, a busy highway.

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